an education

I took myself off to see "An Education" this afternoon - back to the Glen for a quick lunch (an amarena cherry crepe from Via Gelato) and this time, to avoid ridiculous early-ness like last week, I brought Lord Peter and Harriet along for company. I still ended up sitting in the theater watching the sneak peek thing that they put before the previews. Another group of noisy old people (possibly the same group as last week, who knows?) barged in just as the movie was starting, clamored up the stairs, complained (loudly) that they couldn't see the seats in the dark, and stood directly behind me, grumbling and rattling. If you had maybe come about 10 minutes earlier, the lights would have been ON and you could have seen where you were going, okay? Enough about them. On to the film.

It is another one that lived sort of in the back of my consciousness - I'd heard of it, that it was a younger girl meets older guy kind of thing, and then put it out of my head. Then I'd heard that the screenplay had been written by Nick Hornby and had been nominated for an Academy Award. I had just finished reading Hornby's novel, Juliet, Naked (read it, no, devoured it, in one day) and so I figured that "An Education" was worth looking in to. There are going to be some spoilers below, I'm afraid, so if you don't want to know, stop reading here. But go, go, go see this movie. I'm telling you.

It is post-WWII England - I want to say 1961, but it might have been 1951, I don't remember exactly. A 16 year old girl, Jenny, is attending school and preparing for her A-levels. She is under much pressure from her strict parents to do well at school so that she can go to Oxford and read English. She does her homework, plays cello in a youth orchestra (as her special interest) and all that stuff, like a dutiful daughter. But she really wants to go off and be French - wear black, listen to jazz and groovy French music, speak French (she drops it casually into conversation whenever she can - tres chic!). Then one day, walking home in the rain from a youth orchestra rehearsal, she meets David. He's in a car and rolls down the window to call to her. He offers to drive her cello home (understanding, of course, that it would be very funny indeed for her to accept a ride from a total stranger, and an older man, on top of that) while she walks alongside the car. Well, you see how that would work out, so eventually she gets into the car.

She begins a relationship with David - he represents everything that is the complete opposite from her world - beauty and fun and excitement. Music, fancy restaurants, good food. She is charmed and besotted - and surprisingly, so are her parents. He talks them into letting him take her to Oxford (to visit his "english professor" Clive S. Lewis. No, they didn't punt.) and even to celebrate her birthday in Paris. What girl could say no to that?? She begins to question her education - if going to school (and eventually University) is "hard and boring" why ever would a girl choose that when she could have all of the things that are thrilling and exciting and fun?? Why indeed?? Anyway, Jenny and David are happy, happy, happy and he proposes, she accepts, leaves school (much to the distress of her stern headmisteress) and then.... well, I'm not going to totally give it all away. There's a bit of a twist and then something happens. If you want to know, go and see it. If you go to the Glen to do so, stop by and have a crepe first.

The cast is wonderful - especially Jenny, played by Carey Mulligan and David (Peter Sarsgaard) and there was a little cameo from Emma Thompson (as the headmistress). There was humor, there was drama (I cried. No surprise there.)

So here's Best Picture Nominee #2. I guess it's on, Academy.